You say the people you've tested this with all make the wrong choice, did you ask them why they chose the wrong option?
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JonW♦Mar 14 '14 at 11:30

3

They simply didn't get it. Some in the homepage choose a language they wanted to learn.
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InfoStatusMar 14 '14 at 11:32

What language do you want to learn: 日本の, 中国的, or 한국의? I think this might be an issue...
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Mooing DuckMar 14 '14 at 18:50

3

@MooingDuck: I think you misunderstood it like the other users. The site shows language names in the user's language. "What language do you want to learn: japanese, chinese, korean?".
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Christian StrempferMar 15 '14 at 14:10

Real users make this selection before they see your UX. If I wanted to learn Hindi, I would Google "Rosetta Stone", a leading language teaching brand. That brand name is also in English. Use different websites / brand identities that appeal to users of each language.
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Simon GibbsMar 17 '14 at 12:17

10 Answers
10

Obviously, the first thing you have to ask is the language that the user speaks, because without that information, you can't ask them meaningful questions.

However, a user is coming to the site with the intent to learn a language. If you show them a list of languages, of course they're going to choose the one they want to learn. The fact that the site has to first ask the language that they speak doesn't even occur to them.

I think it could be solved with more context in the initial options, something like...

Ich spreche Deutsch

I speak English

Hablo español

Je parle français

etc...

(Disclosure: all non-English options here are from Google Translate because I'm not multilingual, to my eternal shame)

By having longer and less familiar options, the user will likely click on the first one they understand and ignore the rest, even if they don't read the text.

+1: although the user's want to pick the destination language without knowing what language they speak it might get harder to communicate to them in the next step.
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SztupYMar 14 '14 at 16:53

1

This, combined with the answer below (locale detection), would be great in a single-page mode. After you select the language you speak, on the same page - below the selection - it will ask you what language(s) you want to learn, in your language.
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lunchmeat317Mar 26 '14 at 20:02

The flexibility you offer is fantastic but it's likely the user has already taken care of this on a more global level. By no means would I suggest that you remove this ability to change the language, but I think you can score a few sophistication points and meet the user half-way.

+1 This way is best because it minimizes the number of choices the user has to make before getting started. You could leave an option in your settings page for users that want to change display language afterwards.
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Mechanical snailMar 15 '14 at 5:03

1

@Mechanicalsnail: The second part of your comment doesn't make sense. Users don't want the right 'display language' they want the right 'language course' (a course isn't a translation it contains different content). This choice is far more important than just an option in a settings page provided afterwards. It's the core business. The pupils native language is as important as the language they want to learn. Don't get me wrong. Detecting the global language preference is the right thing to do. But the user should have the option to change it's 'from language' on the spot.
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allcapsMar 15 '14 at 10:21

1

Setting the display language is the first order of business, namely to be able to ask the vry first question, "which language do you already speak?" By asking this in the same language as the user's display language, there's a high chance they understand the question. The display language does however not have to equal the "from" language. Let them choose the "from" language at the start, and leave a setting for changing the display language somewhere else.
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nitro2k01Mar 16 '14 at 15:59

4

Then you have 2 problems... The 'user preferrence' is not always a user preferrence, I suppose most users aren't even aware of that preferrence. And in some environments user can't change that either, so you'd have to cope with the language choice anyway, and additionally to the problem with guiding users to fix bad choice based on HTTP headers heuristics.
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Danubian SailorMar 17 '14 at 10:14

2

I'm going to say if done correctly this can be used. But there are loads of sites out there that don't. I'm from belgium for example a country where we have multiple main languages: Dutch and French. Now I am from the Dutch speaking part, and I don't mind if the site switches me to Dutch or english. But what annoys me to hell is when it forces me to the French website, it happens with Origins of EA for example. It just plain forces me to French which annoys the sh*t out of me.
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LyrionMar 17 '14 at 10:38

If users start from picking the language they want to learn, you should let them do so (so: reverse the process).

Regarding the process itself, to make it more understandable, you should present it in a more visual way, showing the steps of the selection process:

User selects language s/he wants to learn. Support it with visual cues, like flag and "Learn" word (so it looks like "Learn Japanese." or "Learn English.").

User selects language s/he knows.

User clicks Submit.

As a guidance, user should be allowed to proceed to next step only after s/he fills in the step before. Steps should be presented in the same view, described in a very straightforward way and numbered. This way user would see and understand the simplicity of the process.

Exactly what I was thinking. Pick what you want to learn, then the language you want it taught to you in. That makes perfect sense to me. +1
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Code MaverickMar 14 '14 at 12:38

3

I would not recommend using flags. There are a number of reasons why flags (and their corresponding countries) do not equal language. A good list of links with arguments can be found at: 456bereastreet.com/archive/200604/…
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Tim FitzGeraldMar 15 '14 at 4:00

That's a very good point! My assumption was that it shows the option to select in a more intuitive way (which it does) but at the same time indeed it may be misleading - both in case of multilingual countries and languages used in multiple countries.
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Dominik OslizloMar 16 '14 at 19:51

So I'd remove the initial page where the user selects their language. The homepage should be, as suggested in @CodeMaverick's answer, "What language do you want to learn?", and have an additional dropdown in the upper corner of every page that changes the language for that user.

For example (using CodeMaverick's image and the image from the linked question):

Changing the language in the corner should, as this control normally would, refresh the current page in the appropriate language.

I'm English and want to learn German. To bad you don't provide that course. What about English - English?
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allcapsMar 14 '14 at 23:27

@allcaps My point is to use the standard language selector for "I speak this language". I just borrowed other images so I didn't have to spend too much time making my own while at work. When language is set to English, you'd use "German" instead of "Deutsch". May as well hide "English" at the same time since it doesn't make sense.
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IzkataMar 14 '14 at 23:46

Since I understand that your website core goal is to help people learn language - You should get straight to the point of "Language they wish to learn" with options provided (in a carousel, drop-down etc.), Ideally rather than to ask users the language they understand firstly. I believe users where you tested are confused between these two questions and needs a little of cognitive load applied when they are not really attentive of the question asked.

If your website goal is to make users learn languages - then probably your focus question and first should be on that.

But - how do you currently show these phrases - I mean in which language? Because a Polish guy may want to read this first question in his language of choice rather than to be in English. Ideally there exist a problem where the Polish guy might have traveled to Russia and thus even tracking through the IP will show the geo-location but not the preference of language (unless its overridden by browser by setting it to convert all languages to Polish). To connect this issue -

I would recommend clubbing your both questions as one - "I like to learn German", "Me gusta aprender aleman", "J'aime apprendre l'allemand"....the following in "English", "Spanish", "French".

Now that if the user chose "I like to learn German" it means that the user understands English and would prefer to learn German. So the main prevalent languages are assembled on priority on the top half and moves to lesser consequent languages to the bottom.

Since you have solved the first level problem, now you cannot definitely keep writing "I like to learn Spanish or Arabic", so next to "German" there could be a drop-down/mega-drop-down that quickly list out the language you need the user the choose such as "Arabic, French....."

So it means the user do not need to say what they know and what they need to learn - but simply say what they wanted to learn. It puts lot of cognitive load to answer questions, but by showing preferred or language of choice the eyes can quickly read it amongst the noise.

Designing the content part -
Now the problem of language choice/learnability is addressed - the way to arrange the entire content - "I like to learn German or Foreign language with a drop-down" (with multiple languages) are showcased in some rational way (alphabetical).

The other way to address the content is to have an option for the lesser relevant languages with a country of residence/world map on the nav bar. By clicking Angola - you may show options for Portuguese and Bantu alone in languages that mean "I like to learn German/Foreign language".

That option to choose both questions at once was a good solution but for now I already have 5 to 5 languages (and expanding). That's 25 options and growing exponentially.
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InfoStatusMar 14 '14 at 14:30

@InfoStatus At once doesn't have to mean as a single input choice. You could have two selection boxes or radio groups as long as they are both on the same page/form.
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Marjan VenemaMar 14 '14 at 15:33

@MarjanVenema Yes, I'm thinking of doing something like that, a double selection. But the way inkmarble was recommending was as a single input choice (read his answer closely). I liked that solution if there weren't so many options.
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InfoStatusMar 14 '14 at 15:40

Yes. You both make very valid points and got me thinking in some solutions. But I don't know if your perspectives aren't conditioned from an english perspective. For example a spanish that want to learn english. He simple wouldn't understand the question.
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InfoStatusMar 14 '14 at 12:55

Also, the initial question is in English, which doesn't do much good if you don't speak English.
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DallonFMar 14 '14 at 13:48

@InfoStatus and DallonF, the language for the initial question could be very easily be chosen based on detecting the user's current culture.
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Code MaverickMar 14 '14 at 14:00